A North Wales car dealer took thousands of pounds of cash and part-exchange vehicles off customers for luxury motors that never materialised, a jury heard today.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts, who ran Menai Vehicle Solutions in Bangor, is accused of 24 counts of fraud and one of fraudulent trading relating to his business.

Prosecutors today outlined the cases of five customers, who lost a total of £147,500 in cash.

Caernarfon crown court heard on the first day of his trial that the Porsche sports cars customers were expecting were never delivered.

The 50-year-old, of Dolgoed in Llandudno Junction, was said to have swindled the customers between January and October 2015.

He denies the charges.

Outlining the prosecution case, barrister Matthew Corbett-Jones said Roberts had set up the business in 2008 after being involved in other car dealerships in North Wales.

He had built up a loyal portfolio of customers who had followed him to the new business.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts

Mr Jones said during 2015 cash was taken by Roberts and the part-exchange vehicles sold in order to pump cash into the business to prop it up.

"It is the prosecution case that he defrauded customers of significant amounts of money and in some cases took vehicles in part exchange. They expected to receive new vehicles but the deals they were offered were too good to be true.

"He himself stood to lose substantial amounts of cash on these deals.

"It was a question of when rather than if the collapse of the company would occur. But in an attempt to sort out the situation he manufactured absurd deals he could not honour," he said.

Mr Corbett-Jones said one of the customers, Dafydd Roberts, had approached Roberts in May 2015 and agreed to hand over £30,000 and part-exchange an Audi vehicle for a Porsche sports car. It was due for delivery in December of that year but was never delivered.

Despite repeated attempts he did not receive the cash expected for the Audi the jury heard.

Another customer, Richard Hughes, was also expecting a Porsche sports car and handed in his BMW vehicle and £53,000.

Mr Corbett-Jones said the customer had initially refused to hand over the cash but under pressure from Roberts, who told him the car had already been ordered and he had paid the money he paid up.

"But Roberts had paid only a deposit on the vehicle ad when the company collapsed the customer lost the cash and the car," he said.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts arriving at court

Mr Corbett-Jones added another customer, Anwen Williams, had bought an Audi vehicle and in February 2015 approached Roberts to pay off the outstanding finance.

"Roberts immediately told her to pay £28,500 to his business and he would settle the account. But the following month she received notification from Audi that the account was in arrears," the barrister said.

Despite the payment made to Roberts she later paid £25,000 to Audi to clear the arrears, effectively paying twice.

Interviewed by police Roberts claimed he had forgotten to settle the account and by the time he was reminded the cash had been spent on other items.

"To suggest he had forgotten is a very obvious and insulting lie," Mr Corbett-Jones added.

Roberts told officers he intended to honour all the deals he had struck and claimed to be incompetent rather than dishonest.